Claim APPL - Apple Computer dies by 2005

Category: Science & Technology:Computer Industry

JUDGED at 0

Owner:

0, Bank

Judge:

163, jim

created:

1995/03/24

due date:

2005/01/01

The Claim

Apple Computer will cease to exist as a viable corporate entity by 1 Jan 2005. This claim will be judged YES if at any time before the above date Apple Computer a) declares bankruptcy, b) suffers a loss in eight consecutive quarters totaling at least one billion dollars, or c) has less than a 2.5% market share for new sales of personal computers in the United States for a period of at least one year. Computers built by Apple running any OS or computers built by other companies running any varient of an OS written and sold by Apple (i.e., Mac clones) count as Apple market share; computers built by other companies and sold with any competing preloaded OS (Any Windows flavor, OS/2, Linux, Amiga OS, etc.) count against market share.Should Apple be bought out by another company prior to 1 Jan 2005, YES and NO shares will each return .50

Judge's Statement

Standard ambiguity clause: If the wording is found to be ambiguous I will judge on the basis of the obvious intent. If the intent is ambiguous I will judge on the basis of precise wording. If both are ambiguous or if both are clear but conflict, I will look for a solution that causes the least damage to FX as a market and game.

FAQ: If a majority of Apple stock were bought by an individual or a consortium of individuals (e.g. the one proposed by Larry Ellison) exerting substantial management control I would regard that as equivalent to a buyout by another company, and judge it at YES = NO = 0.50.

FAQ: If a buyout were to occur at precisely the same instant that one of the conditions a)-c) occurs, I would consider it (for the sake of definiteness) a buyout. If there were any separation in time between the events, the first one to occur would dictate the judgement.